One sign of the seriousness of the scandal that threatens to topple
the Italian government is the fact that for the first few days after
it broke on Oct. 27, the country's newspapers couldn't print an unedited picture
of the woman who sparked it.

For nearly a week, Italy's broadsheets ran photos of Karima
El Mahroug, a Moroccan belly dancer who allegedly told prosecutors she
had been paid to attend "bunga-bunga" sex parties thrown by Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The pictures concealed little; they showed
her dressed, variously, in thigh-high boots, a red-feather bra, and a
plunge-cut tank top. But they did hide one part of the anatomy: her
eyes. Until Nov. 1, when El Mahroug turned 18, the press carefully
pixilated part of her face in an attempt to protect the privacy of a minor. (See pictures of Silvio Berlusconi and the politics of sex.)

It wasn't the first time that the 74-year-old Prime Minister had been
accused of keeping company with underage girls. In May 2009,
Berlusconi's wife initiated divorce proceedings after he attended the
birthday party of an 18-year-old underwear model. But the latest
scandal was accompanied by a torrent of revelations that have
undermined the already weakened premiership to the point of
collapse.

On Wednesday, the weekly magazine Oggi published what it says is video footage of showgirls
being driven to Berlusconi's villa, and, according to Italian press
reports, at least three of the Prime Minister's associates are under
investigation for aiding and abetting prostitution. El Mahroug, who
also goes by the stage name Ruby Rubacuori  Ruby, Stealer of
Hearts  denies having sex with Berlusconi, but has said she was given nearly
$10,000 and some jewelry after attending his parties. Last week,
another woman came forward to say she had been paid to have sex with
the Prime Minister. Berlusconi has denied the charges. (See Berlusconi and the top 10 old leaders.)

Perhaps most damaging are allegations that Berlusconi abused the power
of his office when he called a police station in May after El Mahroug
was detained on suspicions of theft. According to press reports, Berlusconi told the officers that
she was the granddaughter of Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, and El
Mahroug was later released into the care of Nicole Minetti, a former
showgirl and protégé of Berlusconi.

Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing and says he was just helping somebody
"in need." But the Prime Minister seems to have pushed up against the
limit of what Italy's famously tolerant electorate will accept in a
politician's private life. The scandal has been seized upon by Berlusconi's
rivals, most dramatically by his ally-turned-adversary, speaker of the lower house Gianfranco
Fini, who last weekend called on the Prime Minister to resign.

Fini, a partner in Berlusconi's ruling right-wing coalition, controls
a group of parliamentarians who have broken away from the Prime
Minister's ruling party. Members of Fini's party have said they will withdraw from the
government and force a collapse of the coalition if Berlusconi does not
step down. "This
scandal was a signal that it was time to turn the page in a definitive
way," says Alessandro Campi, director of Fare Futuro, a think tank of
which Fini is president. "For the good of the center-right, and of the
country, Berlusconi needs to accept the sacrifice of leaving the Prime
Minister's office and allow the birth of something new." (See if Berlusconi can get his game face back on.)

The showdown comes after months of wrangling between the two men, with
Fini playing a game of brinkmanship in an effort to undermine the Prime
Minister without being seen as the one who plunged his country into
electoral chaos in a time of crisis. "Fini's main concern is that he
doesn't want to be seen as bringing down the government," says James
Walston, a political scientist at the American University of Rome. "He
has to appeal to the center-right which wants somebody stable and
secure, somebody who doesn't rock the boat."

According to Campi, Fini, once seen as the Prime Minister's natural
successor, has proposed a reorganization and expansion of the ruling
coalition, one in which Berlusconi would play an important role  just not
the central one. "On one point, Fini won't cede," says Campi. "He's
against a second Berlusconi government." Berlusconi has not publicly
commented on Fini's demands, but Italian newsagencies quote sources in
the Prime Minister's People of Freedom party saying that, in private, Berlusconi responded that if Fini wants him to go, he
will have to "come out into the open and vote me out in parliament."

Whatever the outcome of the current standoff, most commentators agree
that El Mahroug's revelations have almost certainly tipped the
government toward collapse  if not immediately, then after it has
limped on long enough to pass crucial measures, like the annual
budget. In any case, elections are expected to take place no earlier
than March, when the country's sitting parliamentarians will have
stayed in office just as long as they need to receive their generous life-long
pensions. (See more on last year's attack on Berlusconi.)

Perhaps surprisingly, El Mahroug may be the one person who has come
out ahead from the scandal. On Thursday, she hosted a party at a
nightclub in Genova, arriving by Ferrari and wearing high heels and a
blue Yves Saint Laurent dress. The clothes, she told reporters, had
been birthday presents from friends. Asked if she had received
anything from Berlusconi, she answered: "Silvio is not a friend."